Canoes and paddles were a lifeline for the Snuneymuxw. As Elder Bill Seward says, "the water was our highway." By canoe, the Snuneymuxw could fish, hunt and harvest at sites in the Nanaimo region and on the Fraser River. They made trade and friendship contacts along the coast with people like the Cowichan to the south, and the ability to travel by canoe created a network of intermarried families and potlatch guests. They used swift craft to keep watch and warn of incoming raiders, and could travel on journeys of adventure - Elder Bill Seward's father paddled as far away as California. There was once a time when 50 or 60 canoes would be pulled up along a Snuneymuxw village site. Canoes were traded from people in the north and the west coast of Vancouver Island, where there was access to larger cedar logs for carving. These great canoes could also be acquired through warfare.

The ocean waters of the Pacific and the rivers of the Snuneymuxw territory demand knowledge and experience. The Snuneymuxw teach that the salt and the fresh waters are separate, but related, and can work together. They will talk to the waters and tell them of the plans for their journey. A cedar dugout will not sink, but it can crack if exposed to direct sunlight, or fill with water from oncoming waves. Bark and pitch, also from cedars, are used to make repairs, and a cedar bailer can be used by one of the paddlers to remove water from the hull.

Energies must be respected. If a family member has just died, the canoe will be wrapped in mats and left at home for fear of making the other paddlers "heavy." In the evenings, some paddlers will not go out onto the water without a full crew, because the "people who have gone before" may come from their realm to fill the empty seat. In the past, racers would sleep next to their canoes to keep them from being touched by those not on the crew.

The Bigleaf Maple is known as the "paddle tree" in Hul'q'umin'um'. Its solid wood was selected to carve sturdy paddles that were designed to slice the water with a tapered, diamond-pointed blade. Young Snuneymuxw people spend time learning how to carve small paddles as a symbol of their strength. The paddle shirt, a garment decorated with miniature maple paddles that swing with dance and movement, is worn as a symbol of the connection between the people and their life on the water. Families still pass on the tradition of canoe and paddle carving. Mark Point makes canoes and his son makes paddles.